I do print as well as web design work, and it all starts out the same with PERCEPTION. How do you want to be percieved? Here are some questions I ask clients so I can hit the nail on the head.
What are three (or more) adjectives to describe how your business should be perceived? For example, conservative, progressive, casual, serious, humorous, professional, holistic, magical, etc....you get the idea.
Is this different than the current perception?
What kind of colors do you like?
What other websites or print material do you like, what styles?
What are the steps to getting my website online? What are the steps for my print project?
Contact me by email or phone (561) 715-8262, for an initial consultation. After we talk, I can give you an estimate on cost. Once we have decided to work together, I send you a contract laying out the terms and payment plan. After I receive a signed contract and deposit, I begin working on the layout. I send the layout to you in a jpg format for you to approve. Once I receive an approval, I send you a request for the second payment and work on the rest of the site with your content.
As I am working on the site, I will upload it for you to review per page. You send me comments or changes and I continue the process until your website is completed. At that point, I upload the rest of it to your host and receive the final third payment. You are on the internet and ready to do business!
The same holds true for print work. For logos and illustrations, I sketch it out by hand and work it up roughly for approval.
For print work, it is the same, except we work by email instead of an online preview. I make changes via your comments until the project is complete.
What sort of payment do you accept?
Personal checks, money orders, cashiers checks, Visa or Mastercard via Paypal. Here is a link to my account for Paypal.
Hosting is where you actually put the files of the website when people go to your site on the internet. An example is that the domain name is the address of the place you live, and the hosting is the actual piece of real estate where you build your home. It is the same way with the internet. I refer people to a good affordable hosting company called Godaddy.
How much does a website cost?
That depends on the website. Do you want a small, brochure type website that is static and just tells people about your business? Or are you looking to do eccomerce or have a high end flash website? After getting some detail on what type of website you are looking to build, I will give a written estimate on cost. Smaller static sites can start around $650 and larger and more detailed sites go up from there. Check out the pricing section on my website.
How do I get higher rankings in the search engines? What is search engine optimization (seo)?
Search engine optimization is using specific keywords and phrases relevant to your business and using them in the title and description tags in the code of your website. I also use those specific keywords and phrases in the text of the webpage and the image alt tags. If you have a specific smaller market, it works pretty well to get you on the first and second page. If you have a wider market; it is a bit more difficult to complete with the top spot.
With an optimized site, it is easier for your customer base to find you, but another way to get higher visibility is to exchange links with similar businesses. Google places a higher rank to links coming into the site as well as an optimized site. Here is a good article explaining page rank.
After my website is designed and online, how can I update it myself?
I have been designing most of my sites in wordpress where you can make edits to the website yourself from the admin panel.
